Chapter Eight:
"Kira The Hero"

Ide's phone beeped. He reached into his pocket, took it out, and looked at it. "Holy cow!"

Aizawa snapped a look at him. "What is it?"

"This is incredible!" Ide replied. "Quick! Turn on the television to the local news. I just received a news prompt about a monster truck rampaging its way through a street near by." He named the street.

"Are you serious? A monster truck?" Aizawa said. "And that's only a few blocks from here."

Light grabbed the remote to a widescreen on the wall in the lounge area and switched it on. The apartment was the epicentre of the Kira Task Force, but it was also his residence. He still had the usual creature comforts. Misa also liked to watch her soap operas when she wasn't working. When she was, she recorded them on a personal video recorder.

"…a monster truck is running amok down…" —the overlay newscaster's voice named the street as the scene played out with live camera footage— "…and is crushing cars in its wake!" The massive monster truck looked like it was designed for a rodeo with horns on its hood and the demonic decor of teeth along its body. It's gigantic wheels had no difficulty squashing cars under its weight. "We have exclusive footage, here on NKS!"

"Now that's interesting," Ratio remarked. Light gave him a sideways glance; Ratio shared it. "I never would have excepted anything like this." You humans are quite unpredictable, he voiced telepathically to Light.

"How the heck did a monster truck get into the city without anyone noticing?" Matsuda wondered.

"Someone's personal property, perhaps?" Light said. "Or, it could be part of the show for the Demolition Derby taking place in Yokohama at the Nissan Stadium later this week? It's big enough, seeing how it hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup. This week, monster trucks like that one are being showcased in a Kanto showroom as promotion for the derby. All the local newspapers and media outlets are profiling it. The event is supposed to be truly spectacular!"

"And how would you know that?" Ide asked. "I know you keep up on the latest news, but you sound a bit too excited by it?"

Light smiled coyly. "Well, I have tickets to the event. Sayu wanted to go and it sounded like fun. It's a little out of my comfort zone, but she was really excited. And after the events of the Yukaza Incident, a little R&R would do me good, my doctor said."

"Wow, another surprise," Raito said. "You truly are an interesting person, cousin. And you kept this from me?"

Light eyed him, but casually. He knew the god in human-guise was just mocking him.

"I never took you to be interested in that kind of stuff," Matsuda said. "It's sort of my neck of the words. I love monster trucks!"

Soichiro cleared his throat. "We have all have our interests," he said. "And while this is shocking, the police can handle this matter with the monster truck. The NPA is quite capable in delegating the situation. They've handled worse situations when I was the chief, one of which was a hostage situation that lasted nearly thirty-six hours. We're here to catch Kira."

Light considered that a cold but necessary response. But his father knew when to draw a line and to compartmentalize priorities better than anyone Light knew. Indeed, what was happening with the monster truck had nothing to do with the Kira Task Force.

"Honestly," Ide began, stepping closer to the television, "if this wasn't criminal, it would be fun to watch. I just hope there are no casualties. Ohh!" He cringed when the truck leaped up into the air and came down, crushing more cars under its massive wheels along the street as a disembodied reporter narrated the action. Ide let out a small, child-like chuckle. Even Aizawa smirked, watching the screen.

Light knew there was just something about this kind of thing that entertained all men. He turned and saw Raito looking at him. The god in human guise then smiled.

What? Light voiced mentally.

You humans are so entertaining, even when it comes to something like this, Raito thought back. So fascinated by destruction and carnage. And when it doesn't relate to you, you relish in watching others, potentially, suffer. I still can't believe your species has lasted this long.

Light frowned.

And yet, with the Death Note, Light was hoping to stop the insipid violent tendencies of the world with the elimination of crime, war, murder, and even this sort of insanity. However, with what was happening now with the monster truck in the streets of Kanto—he needed to do a lot more.

Just then, Light's cell rang. He answered it, the voice on the other end spoke quickly. Light's eyes widened. He snapped his attention to the screen of the television. A reporter was talking, but there was a camera now focused on the driver side of the monster truck and the driver was shouting something. It couldn't initially be heard over the roar of the truck's engine, but the caller on the phone said something that then shocked him that now put the Kira Task Force at the forefront of this event.

Light thanked the other and ended the call. "Change of plans," he said. "Looks like this has just become our jurisdiction. My contact at the NPA just told me the driver is shouting something. During a moment when the engine wasn't revving so loud, the driver could be heard shouting, 'For Kira!'"

Wrong! I would never authorize such stupidity.

Light then said, "Options, people!" quickly taking charge. "How can we assist the police in this matter?"

"Can we do anything?" Ide wondered.

Can you do anything about this, Raito? Light asked the Astral Plane god mentally.

I have an idea, Raito replied to Light. But you'll have to cover for me.

Light nodded.

"Ohhh!" Raito suddenly moaned and held his stomach. "Bad timing, guys—I know. But I have to use the bathroom." He gave a quick glance to Light. "Keep me informed, cousin. It must have been the coffee and all this excitement."

Light nodded. "Try not to be too long," he urged.

Raito nodded and left.

When Raito left, Light instinctively touched the ear clip making sure it was still attached. It would help him keep in contact with Raito with whatever plan the god from the Astral Plane had in mind to stop the maniac in the monster truck. But Raito was a god. Couldn't he just snap his fingers and immediately stop all the carnage on a whim?

Light sat in his computer seat. He had only gotten up to get the remote to switch on the television. Here he brought up live internet footage of the monster truck from a variety of multi-media platforms and summarily began recording them on his hard-drive for later reviewing if necessary. One video was raw footage without voice over streaming live from ground level, he took particular interest in this one. The television volume was lowered and everyone gathered around him at the computer station.

Light searched for more media on the monster truck on a separate screen as the raw video placed out on another and found its ownership. He had multiple computer screens going and a state-of-the-art network to utilize for his work.

The monster truck had a name: 'Archfiend', the name on the side of the truck, and Light confirmed it was indeed part of the Demolition Derby line-up that was taking place in Yokohama next week. The Derby's website even had a picture of it.

The raw footage showed the monster truck crushing cars and moving along without restriction down wide streets that could accommodate it, all the while the man was shouting insanely that this was 'For Kira!' when heard. Light found it curious that the man holding the camera video-graphing the event had a steady hand and was getting up-close and personal, unafraid.

But while the others watched the footage live, Light tried to get an image of its driver and took several snap shots, when able, using another computer screen, zooming in through the windshield when the brave video-grapher got even closer.

"What an idiot!" Ide said. "Whoever is shooing this footage is going to get himself killed staying that close! If something can be done about this maniac driver, it better be done soon because dusk is coming. It will hamper the ability to stop this craziness!"

I'm here in the monster truck's cabin, suddenly came Raito's voice in Light's mind. Light casually touched his left ear and the clip as if it was a radio earbud. Light looked at the windshield in the raw footage of the video-grapher's live stream and saw the image of Raito. Only he could see the god. The driver is on a psychedelic high, it would appear. He can't be reasoned with conventionally.

Can you stop him? Light responded.

Yes, I can. Stand-by.

Moments passed, when suddenly the monster truck suddenly shut down. There was a hush from the task force as everyone looked at the computer screen. Then the truck's large left front wheel settled on the roof of a car. No one said a word.

Then: "What just happened?" Matsuda expressed.

A voice from the television spoke. The task force turned to it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we don't know what has occurred—" an anchor at the news desk on NKS said befuddled with a split screen of himself and the live scene of the monster truck. "But it would seem that the truck has just stopped. We don't have all the details yet. But—wait! We are getting reports that the driver may have suffered a heart attack! Was Kira watching? Did Kira just save the day? We'll continue to bring you all the news when we have it. But if this is the case, then Kira—is a hero!"

Light blinked curiously. Then he saw Raito stick his head out the passenger side window and give the camera a thumbs-up. No one but Light could see Raito, but he would know that Light was watching.

Aizawa looked at Light. Aizawa suspected Light in being Kira, but as he was with Aizawa the whole time and the Death Note was still locked up, this put a damper in Aizawa's theory—which was good for Light.

"Okay, now that was bizarre," Matsuda remarked. "It ended so quickly. Did Kira just kill the driver?"

Aizawa turned back. "If the driver said he was doing this 'For Kira', then why would Kira kill him?"

"Unless he wasn't doing it for Kira?" Light added. "I would like to see the toxicology report on the driver when the medical examiner is finished. Maybe he was under the influence of a drug that drove him to commit this insane act?"

"Like he was stoned?" Ide replied. "He stole a monster truck from a showroom and then decided to take a joyride? Shouting: 'For Kira"? He would be signing his own death warrant if that's the case? For arguments sake, Kira would never condone this."

"Could be? But we won't know until the toxicology report is submitted. I agree with Ide, it's not Kira's MO."

Aizawa eyed him again.

Just then, Raito came out of the bedroom holding his stomach. His sudden appearance grabbed everyone's attention. "Ohhh!" he moaned painfully. "No more coffee for me! I'm sorry, cousin. But you may not want to go into your bathroom for a while."

Light withheld a smirk at the god's attempt at bathroom humour.

"You missed the whole thing, Raito," Soichiro said. "The monster truck driver is dead. We don't know all the details yet."

"How?" Raito acted surprised. "And that's not fair! I missed everything?"

Light wondered how Raito did it.

Then Raito quickly looked at Light and told him telepathically that he had touched the driver's mind and implanted a suggestion for him to stop the truck, then later influenced him to suffer a massive heart attack. The man's name was Kei Imafuku.

A flash of remembrance happened. For some reason the name sounded familiar, but Light didn't know why.

"Oh god, look!" Matsuda said, pointing at the television on the wall. "NKS is praising Kira for his heroics in preventing further carnage." Light looked. The news station now showed the headline: 'Kira The Hero' across the bottom of the screen. "This isn't good for us," Matsuda further said. "I wonder how it will factor into Special Agent Hansel Dragoon's report about the task force?"

"Sort of puts a monkey wrench into our operation here," Ide said. "We're here to stop Kira, but now he's a hero?"

"I'm sure this will all blow over," Light said. "One good deed does not absolve all the heinous acts Kira's committed."

Secretly, Light was smiling to himself.

Perfect! In secret, the world loves Kira—they're just afraid to say it. NKS is in favour of Kira, so this isn't new for them. And yet, I believe the universe loves me! Sending a god to help me look like a hero, I couldn't have asked for anything more!

To be continued...